UCLA School of Law’s Critical Race Studies Program: 5th Annual Academic Symposium

Date(s) of Conference:

March 31- April 2, 2011

Location:

UCLA School of Law

Description:

The 5th Annual Symposium will explore the relationship between race and sovereignty. Sovereignty, like race, has been invoked, understood, and deployed in contradictory ways. Historically, sovereignty has been an important vehicle through which hegemonic power has been enforced, for example, by articulating citizenship as a racial project rooted in the power to exclude. Sovereignty has also been an important tool of anti-colonial resistance crucial to liberatory struggles of people of color in the U.S. and worldwide. Race shares this complex dimension, serving as both a technology of oppression and a vehicle for resistance to that oppression. Despite these parallels, race and sovereignty have, for the most part, been engaged as separate and mutually exclusive projects: sovereignty has primarily been linked to the struggles of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples, while the struggles of other people of color have largely been cast through a standard anti-racist narrative of citizenship and inclusion.

Contact Information:

crssymposium@law.ucla.edu

http://www.law.ucla.edu/home/index.asp?page=3542

Creating Change: Feminism, the University and Society

Date(s) of Conference:

March 11-12, 2011

Location:

University College Dublin
Dublin, Ireland

Description:

This interdisciplinary conference will interrogate how scholarship, research practice, clinical interventions, and various forms of academic-civil society collaboration contribute to the advancement of social justice.

Contact Information:

http://www.ucd.ie/socialjustice/judyconf.html

Workers, Firms, and Government: Understanding Labour Compliance in Global Supply Chains

Date(s) of Conference:

October 26-28, 2011

Location:

International Finance Corporation
Washington, DC

Description:

The last decades have witnessed a growing concern over labour rights and working conditions in developing country locations supplying for the global market. The Better Work research conference Workers, Firms, and Government: Understanding labour compliance in global supply chains aims at analysing the impact of labour standards compliance in global supply chains on firms and workers, looking at the ‘business case’ as well as at the ‘development case’ for labour standards.

Call for Papers:

The Conference will be articulated across the following thematic areas:

1. Labour standards compliance and the supplier firm.  How does compliance relate to the competitiveness of supplier firms? Does it facilitate access to markets? Is there a subset of labour standards for which productivity gains are directly observable?
2. Labour standards compliance and workers. How do improvements in working conditions and protection of worker rights translate into benefits for workers and their families? What are the implications for worker mental and physical health, household income, education attainment of family members and other indicators of well-being? What difference does improving compliance make to worker voice, representation at the workplace, and bargaining power?
3. The impact of BFC/Better Work and related initiatives aimed at promoting better working conditions on compliance to labour standards, employment, industrial relations, workers’ wellbeing and broad development indicators as well as on competitiveness, profitability, export markets, and economic upgrading.
4. Implications for public policy and industrial relations.  What is the role of Better Work and other private and multi-stakeholder regulatory mechanisms as instruments of global governance? What is the public good case for labour standards that may not directly enhance productivity? Where does the business case for labour standards end and the public good discourse begin?

Proposals of special sessions or panel may also be submitted specifying the rationale for the topic.

Completed papers or substantial abstracts (3-5 pages) should be submitted in English. Abstracts should include title and content of the paper, name and affiliation of the author(s), email and addresses for the corresponding author and the proposed thematic area addressed.

Abstracts should be submitted to betterwork@ilo.org together with a short CV of the author(s). The email should reference “Better Work research conference” in the subject line.  The deadline for abstract submission is March 31, 2011.

Contact Information:

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/files/bw-conference-call-for-papers_7feb11.doc

11th Annual Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference

Date(s) of Conference:

March 25-26, 2011

Location:

UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law

Description:

This conference will include various programs on teaching  legal writing and research skills.

Contact Information:

http://www.law.unlv.edu/RockyMountain2011.html

No Boundaries: Transnational Law and a New Order of Global Governance

Date(s) of Conference:

May 9-10, 2011

Location:

Osgoode Professional Development
Osgoode Hall Law School of, York University
1 Dundas Street West Suite 2602, P.O. Box 42
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1Z3

Description:

Globalization has converged states and non-state actors (civil society, corporations and hybrid public-private bodies) creating a diverse range of governance paradigms.  In light of globalization, has transnational law influenced nation states in their ways of governance and behaviour? What is the role of “new” governance regimes in solving global problems?

This conference will debate whether we are entering a “new” order of global governance, while remaining attentive to the social, cultural, environmental effects of globalization at a domestic scale. Has globalization created new forms and principles of governance? Transnational law has been described as all law that regulates actions that transcend national frontiers. So, we ask: In this era of globalization, what is role of transnational law and global governance in shaping domestic modes of governance? How and in what ways does globalization affect public policy development? How do transnational law regimes interact with external and natural forces (e.g., the market, climate change) and interconnect boundaries?

Call for Papers:

We welcome papers that engage in questions of “boundaries”, particularly those with a focus on globalization, models of governance and transnational law. We are interested in a broad range of work dealing with the financial markets (commercial, banking and financial law), environmental protection, administrative law, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, tax, e-commerce, intellectual property, women’s studies, trade, human rights, crisis and emergency planning, labour and employment, health, disability, historical conceptions of regulation and governance, reflections upon the nature and operative conditions of governance, the relationship between state sovereignty and regulatory authority. Papers with an interdisciplinary focus and from graduate students in other disciplines are strongly encouraged.

Submission Guidelines: Proposals should include the title of the paper, an abstract of approximately 300 words and five keywords that best describe your submission. Please also include your full institutional affiliation and email address.

The deadline for abstract proposals is March 4th 2011. Please send proposals by email to: GLSA@osgoode.yorku.ca

Contact Information:

1-888-923-3394

http://glsa.osgoode.yorku.ca/call-for-papers

Second Asia-Pacific Innovation Conference

Date(s) of Conference:

March 28-29, 2011

Location:

National Center of Science Building
Tokyo, Japan

Description:

The scope of the conference topics will cover (but are not limited to ) (1) entrepreneurship and startups, (2) innovation and industry evolution, (3) management of technology, (4) intellectual property protection for innovation, (5) standards, alliance and consortia, (6) research and innovation funding, and (7) university research and university industry collaborations.

Contact Information:

+81-3-4212-2000

http://www.nii.ac.jp/en/access/

2011 East Asian Law and Society Conference

Date(s) of Conference:

September 30 – October 1, 2011

Location:

Yonsei University
Seoul, Republic of Korea

Description:

The theme for this conference is Dialects and Dialectics: East Asian Dialogues in Law and Society. “Rule of law” is now accepted as the universal language of governance, but it is undeniable that various dialects are spoken in different regions of the world. While efforts are made at the national level to promote a standard form of “rule-of-law speech,” sub-national dialects persist within each
jurisdiction. This is particularly true in Asia, despite increasing pressures toward the global convergence of national legal systems. Genuine convergence, however, can only come about through dialectical relationships among the different legal dialects. A true dialectical relationship, in turn, will be possible only when meaningful dialogues take place among speakers of those different dialects.  The organizers hope to explore these plural interactions through a diverse array of panels and paper presentations.

Call for Papers:

We invite proposals for papers and panels on law and society in Asia that relate either (i) directly to the conference theme (Dialects and Dialectics: East Asian Dialogues in Law and Society); or (ii) to any topic in connection with law
and society in Asia.

Scholars, practitioners and graduate students are all welcome to participate. Participants need not be members of the CRN-EALS or the Korean Society for the Sociology of Law.

All proposals must be submitted via email to: eastasialsa2@gmail.com by March 15,  2011 (US Pacific Standard Time).

All papers must be in English and include the following content:

       1.  Title of the paper;
       2.  An abstract of not more than 300 words;
       3.  Information about the presenter:
           a. Full name;
           b. Title (Prof/Dr/Mr/Ms/Mrs/Miss);
           c. Institutional Affiliation;
           d. Email address; and
           e. Postal address.

Contact Information:

The Korean Society for the Sociology of Law
sociolaw@gmail.com

http://sociologyoflaw.or.kr/EALS2011

The Future of Arbitration

Date(s) of Conference:

March 17-18, 2011

Location:

The George Washington University Law School
2000 H Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20052

Description:

Over the past several decades, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) has been increasingly used by businesses to divert claims from the courts into the arbitral forum that they consider more favorable to them, which in many cases means that, as a practical matter, the claims will never be brought.  In almost every case, the Supreme Court has upheld the position of the person arguing that unwilling parties who signed agreements containing a mandatory pre-dispute arbitration provision can be required to pursue their claims in arbitration. 

Since the enforceability of such agreements is governed by the FAA, Congress can amend the FAA if it believes that those decisions produce undesirable results. The purpose of this conference is to debate the key policy questions surrounding various aspects of arbitration. The program will not be about what the FAA now permits and requires, but what it should permit and require.

Contact Information:

www@law.gwu.edu

http://www.law.gwu.edu/News/2010-2011Events/Pages/Arbitration.aspx

25th Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime

Date(s) of Conference:

March 2-4, 2011

Location:

San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina
333 West Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA

Description:

The 2011 keynote panels will focus on the most significant fraud trials of the past year, as well as a discussion of the ethical obligations of white collar lawyers. The institute will have excellent representation from the corporate sector, including representatives from Prudential Financial Services, Pfizer, Morgan Stanley, International Paper Company and Schlumberger. The institute will also include senior members of the Department of Justice, prosecutors and distinguished members of the federal judiciary.

Contact Information:

http://apps.americanbar.org/cle/programs/wcc/

Hydrofracking: Exploring the Legal Issues in the Context of Politics, Science and the Economy

Date(s) of Conference:

March 28-29, 2011

Location:

University at Buffalo School of Law
Buffalo, New York

Description:

Horizontal-gas drilling involving hydraulic fracturing, also known as hydrofracking or fracking, and its potential effects is an important environmental and energy concern for the nation. This conference provides an opportunity for a scholarly exchange of ideas regarding the issue as well as a forum for community discussion.

Call for Papers:

We welcome submissions on any related topic, including the following:

• Hydrofracking and Nuisance Law
• Impacts on Tribal Lands
• Administrative law and the EPA Rulemakings
• Environmental Review Processes    
• Application of federal environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act
• Energy issues, in including the Energy Policy Act and DOE policy
• Endocrine Disruption and Human Health Impacts

Authors will have an opportunity to publish their work in the Buffalo Environmental Law Journal. You are invited to submit a paper or presentation proposal for of no more than 250 words by Monday, February 21st to jol@buffalo.edu.

Contact Information:

Jessica Owley
jol@buffalo.edu 
716-645-8182

Kim Diana Connolly
kimconno@buffalo.edu
716-645-2092

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/land_use/